In Q1,  Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, L’Oréal heiress, became the first woman to amass a US$100 billion fortune. Bernard Arnault received France’s highest civilian award, the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. The LVMH founder was decorated in the annual New Year’s Day honors list. The Direct Selling Association announced the appointment of Ayo Olaseinde as Chair of its Board. The John Lewis Partnership considered eliminating up to 11,000 jobs across its 76,000-strong workforce over the next five years. The National Association of Corporate Directors, representing about 24,000 directors across the US, partnered with e.l.f. Beauty. THG was reportedly poised to make approximately 160 redundancies across its operations, with the headcount reduction split between marketing and sales roles and warehouse functions. L’Oréal mandated its 87,000 global employees to return to the office for at least two Fridays every month as part of a revision to its remote working policies. Revolution Beauty announced that it had reached a settlement with former CEO and Co-founder Adam Minto regarding the events that led to the delay of the audit of the group’s FY22 results and the suspension of trading of its shares on AIM. Superdrug pledged to take on some 500 more apprentices this year alongside sister company Savers. Last, private equity firm Aurelius appointed administrators for The Body Shop’s UK operations weeks after acquiring the retailer from Natura &Co for £207 million.

In Q2,  Jessica Alba stepped down from her role as Chief Creative Officer at Honest Company in order to ‘shift her creative energy to new endeavors’. Walmart announced significant cuts to its corporate workforce as well as a sweeping ‘back to the office’ mandate for remote workers. Elf Beauty launched a bold campaign to highlight the lack of diversity in corporate boardrooms across the US. The brand’s ‘So Many Dicks’ campaign pointed out that there were more men named Dick (including variations like Richard, Rich, and Rick) on corporate boards than there were individuals from underrepresented groups. Last, Procter & Gamble announced plans to relocate around 1,500 jobs from its Winton Hill Business Center over a five-year period, beginning at the end of 2024.

In Q3,  Alessandro Manfredi, Dove’s global chief marketing officer (CMO), departed from Unilever after an impressive 28-year career. Entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies MBE was appointed as Avon UK’s Chief Inspiration Officer. Keerthana Ramakrishnan announced her departure from her role as Chief Marketing Officer at 82˚E.  The Estée Lauder Companies’ Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Tracey Travis, was rumored to be leaving the US beauty giant later in the year. Unilever planned to cut around a third of all office roles in Europe by the end of the following year as part of a broader effort to boost growth under its new chief executive. The chairs of three UK parliamentary committees raised concerns over Shein’s planned London listing and called for greater scrutiny of the Chinese fast fashion firm ahead of its IPO.  A group of suppliers for the online marketplace Temu protested at the budget marketplace’s Guangzhou offices against penalties imposed on merchants by the e-commerce operator. Unilever relocated its US headquarters to Hoboken. The manufacturer of Dove signed a lease for three floors, spanning 111,000 square feet, at an SJP Properties-owned waterfront building on River Street.,  Bath & Body Works announced that it will hire some 30,000 seasonal workers across its 1,800 stores in the US, Puerto Rico and Canda, as well as 2,700 staff at its four distribution centers in Ohio. Last, Lush closed a woodshop in British Columbia and transfer manufacturing operations from Vancouver to Toronto in an efficiency drive.

In Q4,   CVS Health announced plans to lay off approximately 2,900 employees, representing less than 1% of its workforce, as part of its ongoing effort to streamline operations and cut costs. Procter & Gamble came under pressure from shareholders to disclose pay gaps by gender and race. Descendants of Procter & Gamble’s founders attempted to remove CEO Jon Moeller and members of the company’s governance and public responsibility committee, but their effort was ultimately unsuccessful. The Body Shop announced the relocation of its head office to Brighton, marking a fresh chapter under its new ownership. Superdrug announced that reality TV personality Gemma Collins would front a campaign promoting its in-store beauty services and seasonal offerings. Harvey Nichols announced the creation of a new Creative Director role and has handed the title to Kate Phelan, effective immediately. Last,  K-beauty brand Ma:nyo hailed its flexible working program as a resounding success.